Administrators plan to use a new hiring tool to recruit diverse faculty for 15 new high-demand positions at UF.
Debra Walker King, associate provost for faculty development, helped create an online tutorial that gives suggestions for attracting diverse faculty applicants. The tutorial teaches search committees to prioritize minority recruitment.
It gives tips on where to advertise and how to introduce potential minority hires to campus.
All members of UF?s search committees must participate in the online training, King said. UF President Bernie Machen will test the recruitment tool in October.
King said UF cannot give preference to minority faculty hopefuls. The only way to increase diversity is to diversify the applicant pool.
BYou can?t just sit back and put an ad out,C she said. BYou have to really look and nurture recruiting efforts. You have to do it year round.C
King said recruiting should be directed toward minority organizations, such as the National Black MBA Association.
Attracting minority faculty has been difficult for administrators for more than a decade.
BWe have quite a bit of diversity,C King said. BBut when you look at numbers of specific groups, some, such as African Americans, are suffering.C
In 2006, UF had 84 full-time ranked black faculty members - just 27 more than there were in 1990, according to the UF Factbook. The number of ranked Hispanic faculty has increased by about half since 1990. That year, there were 52, and in 2006 there were 117.
Shelton Davis, president of the Association of Black Faculty and Staff, said he?s confident UF would use the 15 faculty hires and the money received from Machen?s Tuition Differential Program to bring in more diverse faculty members. When funds from the Tuition Differential Program become available in Fall 2008, UF will hire 200 more faculty members and 100 advisers over several years. The program will allow UF to incrementally raise tuition up to 40 percent over four years, so long as it does not exceed 15 percent, about ,500, per year.
UF is still looking for multicultural applicants to fill positions when it can, Davis said.
Recently, UF hired minorities to fill the positions of graduate school dean, associate provost for undergraduate education, and associate provost for registrars and admissions, he said.
BWhen you make hires at the top levels where people have oversight and responsibilities for making the university more diverse, you?re doing something right,C he said.
